Pan Am Grip Shoes, A Cheap Substitute to Centrifuges?

[Kinglet]

Because centrifuges aren't a good solution at all. They introduce vibrations, rotational torque that needs to be countered, and structural stress. They are also big, heavy, expensive, and because they need many moving parts with motors, seals, lubricants, etc... they also introduce failure modes that could be catastrophic. They are simply not practical for manned spaceflight at this stage.

Most of the negative effects of microgravity can be countered by medication and exercice, which is where most of the progress has been made over the last decades.

Mechanical bearings are too much of a hassle. You could just use electromagnetic bearings, resulting in nearly no structural stress. But the power requirements to stabilize a large habitat could be quite high.

[SargeRho]

How about spinning the entire ship along one of its axes? The HOPE spacecraft would spin along its 'spinal' axis in the crewed variant. Surely a spacecraft's structural components would be built to withstand several Gs anyways, since they still have to be launched.

[sal_vager]

Wasn't there a concept for a spinning vessel to go to Mars which would rotate end over end, to get the most from the rotation?

[Dkmdlb]

Mars Direct. Zubrin had the hab on a long tether with the empty upper stage on the other end, spinning end over end.

[sojourner]

Oooo, I've got an idea! What if we spin the grip shoes?

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

For the dust part, they are mass producing them, so that isn't really a problem.

Seriously? You think people planning an interplanetary mission want to pack hundreds or thousands of pairs of shoes, potentially weighing over a ton?

[HoloYolo]

Seriously? You think people planning an interplanetary mission want to pack hundreds or thousands of pairs of shoes, potentially weighing over a ton?

They could make it where the sticky stuff lasts a few days to a week, meaning that a 3 week mission on Mars could only require 3 pairs a person.

[cantab]

I'd say these shoes are useful, but not to replace centrifuges. They would make it easier to move about in the zero-g areas.

Would it though? It seems to me that astronauts move around on the ISS easily enough.

[sojourner]

They could make it where the sticky stuff lasts a few days to a week, meaning that a 3 week mission on Mars could only require 3 pairs a person.

Pssst! the "sticky stuff" in 2001 was velcro.

[HoloYolo]

Pssst! the "sticky stuff" in 2001 was velcro.

They can make a new type of velcro.

[Skyler4856]

This would end up working a different set of muscles than would be utilized when standing.

[Bill Phil]

Would it though? It seems to me that astronauts move around on the ISS easily enough.

For the astronauts, yeah. But if the average person were to go on to the ISS they would have trouble. Remember, in 2001 there was more infrastructure in space. More people were in space, so things to make it easier would really help.

[Dkmdlb]

They could make it where the sticky stuff lasts a few days to a week, meaning that a 3 week mission on Mars could only require 3 pairs a person.

These shoes would be used en route, not on the surface.

For the astronauts, yeah. But if the average person were to go on to the ISS they would have trouble.

Why?

[sojourner]

They can make a new type of velcro.

Why would you need a new type of velcro? Velcro works perfectly fine for the intended use. It won't wear out like this hypothetical "sticky stuff" you want.

[Bill Phil]

Why?

We're used to two dimensions when it comes to moving. In space, you have to move in three dimensions, which can really turn people around. Some people would be okay, while others wouldn't be.